During the year 1899 the British Museum acquired a new vase of the Dipylon class, which was found near Thebes in Boeotia, and dates from about 800 B.C. On one side of the vase are represented chariots and horses, apparently about to start for a race. On the other side is a painting of a complete bireme, which, on account of its antiquity and the peculiarities of its structure is of extraordinary interest. The galley in question, Fig. 74, is reproduced from an illustration, traced direct from the vase, and published in the "Journal of Hellenic Studies," vol. xix. (1899). The chief peculiarity of the construction is that the rowers are seated upon a two-storied open staging, erected upon a very shallow hull and extending from an elevated forecastle to an equally raised structure at the stern. The stage, or platform, on which the lower tier of oarsmen is seated, is supported by vertical struts rising out of the body of the boat. The platform for the upper stage is also supported by vertical struts, which rise, not from the boat itself, but from an intermediate stage, situated between the two tiers of rowers. In the absence of a plan it is not possible to say if these platforms were floored decks, with openings cut in them, where necessary, for the legs of the rowers; or if they were simply composed of longitudinal beams connected by cross-pieces which served as seats, or benches. The latter arrangement appears to be the more probable. There are twenty oarsmen a-side, on the lower tier, and, apparently, nineteen on the upper. No attempt is made by the artist to show more than the rowers on one side, and, to avoid confusion, those on the two tiers have their oars on the opposite sides of the galley, and only one of the blades of the far side is shown. The men of the lower tier rest their feet against supports fixed to the vertical struts which support their platform, while those of the upper tier rest theirs, apparently, upon the intermediate stage. The vessel is provided with a large and a small ram, and is steered by means of two large paddles. The prow ornament resembles a snake. In some of its features, notably in the shape of the ram, the shallowness of the hull, and the height and number of the stages, this galley resembles the Phoenician boat of a somewhat later date, described on page 28. The arrangement of the rowers is, however, totally different in the two cases, those in the Phoenician vessel being all housed in the hull proper, while those in the Greek galley are all placed on the stages. It is a curious coincidence that the two specimens of galleys of the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., of which we possess illustrations, should both be provided with these lofty open stages. [Illustration: FIG. 74.--Archaic Greek bireme. About 800 B.C.]